Braking System

Dr. Purnanand V Bhale

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
SV NIT Surat
 Introduction to braking system

• All the braking systems depend upon friction between the

moving parts and stationary parts for their stopping force.

• Brakes are one of the most important control components of

the vehicle.

• It is a fact that owing to recent improvements in the braking

mechanism it has been possible to have increased speeds of
the modern cars on the road.
 Functions of Brakes

• To stop the moving vehicle in shortest possible time.

• To help in controlling the speed of the vehicle

• To hold the vehicle in its stationary position without the

presence of operator after it has been brought to a stop
 Requirements of good braking system

• The brake should stop the vehicle within a reasonable

distance.

• The retardation should be smooth and free from jerk

• Brake should work equally good in all weathers

• Pedal effort required by the driver should not be more and

with minimum strain
 Requirements of a good braking system (Cont)

• Due to rubbing action large amount of heat is generated due

to friction. The brake design should be such that it should be
capable of dissipating this heat very quickly.
 STOPPING DISTANCES

Efficiency (%) Approximate Stopping Distance (in meters)

from various speeds

30 km/h 50 km/h 80 km/h 100 km/h

100 3.5 9.8 25.2 39.3

80 4.4 12.2 31.5 49.1

60 6.0 16.3 42 65.5

30 12.0 32.6 84 131

General Layout of Braking System
 Classification of Brakes

1. Mechanical Brakes
2. Hydraulic Brakes

3. Power Brakes
(a) Air Brakes
(b) Air Hydraulic Brakes
(c) Vacuum Brakes
(d) Electric Brakes
 Mechanical Brakes

• The brakes which are operated mechanically by means of

levers, linkages, pedals, cams etc are known as mechanical
brakes

• Mechanical brakes were employed in olden days but now

hydraulic and other types of braking system have taken its
place
 Internal Expanding Mechanical Brakes (Video)

• Mechanical Brake system.flv (Drum Brakes)

 Internal Expanding Mechanical Brakes
(Drum Brakes)

• Construction
• It consists of two shoes .

• The outer surface of the shoes are lined with some friction
material to increase the coefficient of friction.

• Each shoe is pivoted at one end about a fixed fulcrum and

made to contact a cam at other end.

• When the cam rotates the shoes are pushed outwards against
the rim of the drum.
 Internal Expanding Mechanical Brakes Contd.

• The friction between the shoes and the drum produces the
braking torque and consequently speed of the drum reduces.

• Brake shoe retracting (the one which draw back) springs helps
them in contracting after the brakes are release.
 Internal Expanding Mechanical Brakes

• Operation

• When the brake pedal is pressed down, its motion is

transmitted to the cam through various mechanical linkages.
The motion of the cam tends to expand out the brake shoes.

• This inward motion of the brake shoes will try to slow down
the motion of the rotating brake drum.
 Internal Expanding Mechanical Brakes Contd.

• Operation

• When brake pedal is released, a retracting spring draws the

shoes away from the drum and the brakes shoes will no
longer in contact with the drum.
Disc Brakes
 Disc Brakes (Video)

• disc brake 2.mp4

 Disc Brakes

• Disc Brakes

• These brakes are different from drum brakes in that the drum
is replaced by a circular plate.

• The brake shoes are replaced by a calliper which supports a

pair of friction pads, one on each side of the disc.

• These pads are forced inward by the operating force and so

retard the disc.
 Disc Brakes Construction

• Construction

• A disc brake consist of a cast iron disc

bolted to the wheel hub and a
stationary housing called caliper.

• The caliper is connected to some

stationary part of the vehicle and is
cast in two parts, each containing a
piston.
 Disc Brakes Construction

• Construction (Cont)

• In between the each piston and

the disc, there is a friction pad held
in position by retaining pins, spring
plate etc.

• Passages are drilled in the caliper

for the fluid to enter or leave each
housing.

• These passages are also connected Internally Vented Disc Brakes

to one another for bleeding.
 Disc Brakes - Working

• Working

• On the application of brakes, hydraulically actuated piston

move the friction pads in to contact with the disc, applying
equal and opposite forces on the latter.

• When the brakes are released, the rubber sealing rings act as
return spring and retract the piston and friction pads away
from the disc.
 Disc Brakes – Advantages

• Advantages

• Lighter than drum brakes

• Better cooling (Since the braking surface is exposed directly to

air)

• Offer better resistance to fade

• Uniform pressure distribution

• Brake pads can be easily replaced

 Disc Brakes – Disadvantages

• Disadvantage

Costlier than drum brakes

For stopping the vehicle higher pedal pressure is required.

It is difficult to install adequate parking arrangement

 Disc Brakes

Disc Brakes in case of racing cars can decelerate the vehicle from
124 mph to standstill in 2.9 sec.
 Disc Brakes

Newly installed disc

 Disc Brakes

Worn out (scored) rotor

 Disc Brakes

A mechanic Replacing the brakes

 Disc and Drum Brakes service repair

• disc and drum brake service repair.flv

Hydraulic Brake System
General Layout
Hydraulic Brake System
Line Diagram
Hydraulic Brake System
 Hydraulic Brake System (Video)

• Hydraulic brake system (disc brake

operated).flv
Hydraulic Brake System (Drum and Disc Combination)
Hydraulically Operated Drum brake
 Hydraulic Brake System

• Working Principle

• When a fluid enclosed in a pipe is used to transmit the pedal

effort to road wheel instead of the use of rod or cable, the
system is called hydraulic brake.
 Hydraulic Brake System

• Working Principle

• The system consists of a master cylinder and piston which is

connected by steel piping to hydraulic wheel cylinder.

• A hydraulic cylinder is provided at each wheel.

• A wheel cylinder consist two pistons which are pivoted to brake

shoes.
 Hydraulic Brake System

• Working Principle (Cont)

• The air of the system is replaced by filling the brake oil under light
pressure.

• The pedal lever is linked to the master cylinder piston by means of a

piston rod.

• When the pedal is depressed the master cylinder piston is forced

into the cylinder thus increasing the pressure on the brake oil.
 Hydraulic Brake System

• Working Principle (Cont)

• Therefore, due to this pressure the piston of the wheel cylinders are
forced out words and thus expanding the brake shoes against the
drums.

• When the brake pedal is released it reduces pressure on the

hydraulic fluid. At the same time, the retracing springs pull the
brake shoes out of contact with the drums and force the wheel
piston back to their original position.
 Hydraulic Brake System

• Working Principle (Cont)

• In this way the brake fluid is returned from the wheel cylinder to
the master cylinders.

• Now the brake pedal is again ready for the next operation.
 Hydraulic Brake System

• Advantages

• The system is simple in construction (absence of brake rods,

joints etc)

• As compared to mechanical braking system this system

provides equal braking effort at all the four wheels as the fluid
exerts equal pressure everywhere.
 Hydraulic Brake System

• Advantages (Cont)

• In comparison to the mechanical brakes using rod and cables

for braking linkage, they do not have to go in straight lines.
They can easily be made to follow almost any desired path
under the chassis.

• This type of system provides high mechanical advantage

without the use of long levers.
 Hydraulic Brake System

• Disadvantages

• Complete braking system is liable to be affected if any fault causing

pressure loss or the breakage of the pipe to one wheel occurs.
(This can be avoided by using tandem master cylinder system)

• The brake shoes are liable to get ruined if the brake fluid leaks out.
 Hydraulic Brake System Components

• Master Cylinder
• Wheel Cylinder
 Master Cylinder

• It is the main cylinder in Hydraulic brake system.

• It serves the purpose of building hydraulic pressure to operate the

brakes.

• It has a reservoir which maintains a constant volume of fluid in the

braking system.

• It also serves as pump to bleed or force air out of the hydraulic

system.
Master Cylinder
 Master Cylinder

• There are two types of master cylinders

• Single Master Cylinder

• Tandem master cylinder

Single Master Cylinder
 Single Master Cylinder

• Construction

• The master cylinder named as the heart of the hydraulic brake

system

• It consist of two main chambers

– The fluid reservoir (which contains fluid to supply to the brake system)

– The compression chamber (in which piston operates)

 Single Master Cylinder

• Construction (Cont)

• The reservoir supplies fluid to the brake system through two ports.
The larger port is called filler or intake port and is connected to the
hollow portion of the piston.

• The smaller port is called the compensating, bypass or relief port

which connects the reservoir directly with the cylinder and the lines
when the piston is in the released position.

• The reservoir is vented to the atmosphere so that the atmosphere

pressure causes the flow through the filler port.
 Single Master Cylinder

• Working

• When the brake pedal is pressed piston of the master cylinder

moves forward to force the liquid under pressure into the system.

• The bypass port is sealed out of the system.

• The liquid pressure is conducted to the wheel cylinders where it

forces the wheel cylinder pistons outwards.

• These pistons force the brake shoes out against the brake drums
and the brakes are applied
 Single Master Cylinder

• Working (Cont)

• As soon as the brake pedal is released, the return spring quickly

forces the master cylinder piston back against the piston top.

• Since the fluid in the lines return rather slowly, a vacuum tends to
form in the cylinder in front of the piston.

• This causes primary cup to deflect to allow the liquid to flow from
the reservoir through the intake port past the piston to fill the
vacuum.
 Single Master Cylinder

• Working (Cont)

• When the pedal is in off position, the liquid may flow from the
reservoir through the bypass port in the master cylinder, supply
lines and wheel cylinders to make up for any fluid that may be lost.

• In this way a complete column of liquid is always maintained

between the master cylinder piston and wheel cylinder pistons.
Tandem Master Cylinder
 Tandem Master Cylinder

• A tandem master cylinder is the master cylinder with two separate

cylinders and reservoirs in the same master cylinder assembly, one
operating front brakes and the other cylinder operating rear brakes.

• This master cylinder avoids the possibility of all the brakes of a

vehicle being put out of order by a leak or fracture in the pipe line
leading to one wheel cylinder.

• It ensures reliability with not much extra cost.

 Tandem Master Cylinder

• In this arrangement separate lines go to different sections of the

brake system, say the rear and the front brakes and it so arranged
that if the front brake lines are damaged, the rear brakes will be still
effective.

• Similarly if rear brakes line is defective, at least front brakes will be

applied.
Diagonally Split Hydraulic System (Tandem Master Cylinder )
Tandem Master Cylinder
Tandem Master Cylinder
 Bleeding of Hydraulic Brakes

• The process of eliminating or removing air out of the braking

system of an automobile is called bleeding.

• When the air traps into the system, it being compressible, the effort
of brake pedal goes waste in applying brakes. Until and unless the
air from the brake system is removed, the brakes would not
function properly.

• Hence to remove air from the system it must be bled.

 Bleeding of Hydraulic Brakes

• Bleeding Procedure
• For bleeding purpose a bleeder valve is provided at the highest point of the
wheel cylinder. The bleeder valve consist of bleeder screw and a neeple which
are provided at the back side of the anchor plate.
• The neeple is fitted with the rubber tube.
• The other end of the rubber tube is dipped into the fluid contained in a clean
glass jar.
• The operation is done by two persons.
• One seats at the drivers seat for operating the brake pedal while other operate
the respective bleeder screw at the wheels.
• The first person after pedalling, presses the brake pedal and indicates to the
second
• Then the second person opens the bleeder valve thereby coming out some air
from the line through the rubber pipe, in the form of bubbles.
• When the pedal is fully depressed the first person again indicates then the
second person closes the bleeding valve. After this the second person
indicates the first to release the pedal. The procedure is repeated.
 Bleeding of Hydraulic Brakes

• The operation is done by two persons.

• One seats at the drivers seat for operating the brake pedal while
other operate the respective bleeder screw at the wheels.
• The first person after pedalling, presses the brake pedal and
indicates to the second
• Then the second person opens the bleeder valve thereby coming
out some air from the line through the rubber pipe, in the form of
bubbles.
• When the pedal is fully depressed the first person again indicates
then the second person closes the bleeding valve. After this the
second person indicates the first to release the pedal. The
procedure is repeated.
 Bleeding of Hydraulic Brakes

• bleeding of brakes.flv
 Power Brakes

When the weight of the vehicle exceeds 6 tonnes or the vehicle is

provided with a trailer, it is very difficult to apply the brakes by manual
effort and therefore under such situation power operated brakes are
used in vehicles.

Brakes operated by power other than the physical effort applied at

the pedal, are known as power brakes.

The power may be exerted by air pressure, engine vacuum or electrical

energy.
 Air Brakes

air brake.flv

air brakes 1.flv

 Auto Brakes

auto brake system.flv

auto brake system1.flv

 Antilock braking system

Purpose of antilock braking

Tyres skid when they decelerate faster than the vehicle.

One way to help prevent skidding is to keep the brakes away from
locking.

This is the purpose of anti-locking braking system.

 Antilock braking system

During normal braking, anti lock braking system has no effect on

the service brakes.

However during hard or severe braking, the antilock braking

system prevents wheel lock up.
 Antilock braking system

The system allows the brakes to apply until the tyres are almost
starting to skid.

Then the antilock braking system can modulate or vary the

hydraulic pressure to the brake at each wheel.

This keeps the rate of wheel deceleration below the speed at which
the wheels can lock.
Load (Weight) Transfer during Braking
Preamble : Load (Weight) Transfer during Acceleration
Preamble : Load (Weight) Transfer during Acceleration

Static Reactions
Preamble : Load (Weight) Transfer during Acceleration
Vehicle Under Acceleration
(Dynamic Reactions)

Taking Moments about the point of contact of the rear tyre on the
road

Is the apparent load transfer

Braking of a vehicle moving down a gradient
 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Resolve Forces Perpendicular to the road

 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Resolve Forces Perpendicular to the road

Resolve Forces along the road

 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Resolve Forces Perpendicular to the road

Resolve Forces along the road

or
 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Resolve Forces Perpendicular to the road

----(x)

Resolve Forces along the road

or

or
----(y)
 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Now take moment of all forces about point of contact of front wheel
 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Now take moment of all forces about point of contact of front wheel

Put the value of RR from above equation

 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Now take moment of all forces about point of contact of front wheel

Put the value of RR from above equation

or
 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Thus
 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Thus

or
 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Thus

Now put the value in (y) of

 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Thus

Now put the value in (y) of

 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Thus

Now put this value in (x)

 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Thus

Now put this value in (x)

 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Thus

Now put this value in (x)

When the brakes are applied to the front wheels

Resolve Forces Perpendicular to the road

When the brakes are applied to the front wheels

Resolve Forces Perpendicular to the road

Resolve Forces along the road

 When the brakes are applied to the rear wheels

Resolve Forces Perpendicular to the road

Resolve Forces along the road

or
 When the brakes are applied to the Front wheels

Resolve Forces Perpendicular to the road

Resolve Forces along the road

or
 When the brakes are applied to the Front wheels

Now take moment of all forces about point of contact of rear wheel

Put the value of Rf in above equation

 When the brakes are applied to the Front wheels

Thus

or
 When the brakes are applied to the Front wheels

Thus

or

or
 When the brakes are applied to the Front wheels

Put in the value of Rf which is given by

We get

and
When the brakes are applied to the Front wheels

Note : when theta is zero sintheta will be zero and

cos theta will be one
 Numerical

A motor car has a wheel base of 250 cm, the height of CG is above the
ground is 60 cm and it is 150 cm in front of the rear axle. If the car is
travelling at 50 km/hr on a level track determine the minimum distance
in which the car may be stopped
(I ) when rear wheels are braked
(ii) When front wheels are braked

Soln : When rear brakes are applied

For rear brakes

However, theta is zero so the above equation will be

f/g = µ(b-y)/(b+µh) (where f – acceleration)
 Numerical (Continue)

Case I : When rear brakes are applied

For rear brakes

However, theta is zero so the above equation will be

f/g = µ(b-y)/(b+µh) (where f – acceleration)

In the first case that is when the rear brakes are applied
f = 2.36 m/s2
Therefore

V2 = U 2 – 2aS (here a =f )
Therefore for the speed of 50 km/hr (i.e. V)
Hence by putting the values of V and a (i.e. f)
We get S = 40.88 m stopping distance.
Case II : Similarly when front brakes are applied
S = 37.69 m
 Questions

• What are mechanical brakes? Describe briefly an internal expanding

mechanical brake’.

• With the help of a neat sketch explain the construction and working of a disc
brake

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of disc brakes compared with
drum brakes?

• What is the major draw back of mechanical brake system

• What are hydraulic brakes?

• What are the essential differences between mechanical brakes and hydraulic
braking system?
 Questions

• What is the function of master cylinder in hydraulic brake system?

• With the help of neat sketch explain the working of master cylinder.

• With the help of neat sketch explain the working of tandem master cylinder
used in hydraulic braking system

• What is the necessity of bleeding of brakes ? Explain bleeding process

 Questions

• What are the main features of power brake system?

• Explain briefly the working of air brakes

• Name the materials used for brake lining. What properties should they
posses.
 Questions (Suspension System)

• What are the functions of a suspension system?

• What is the main function of damper/shock absorber?

• Give the description of a telescopic damper with neat sketch.

• What do you mean by the term independent suspension?

• State the advantages and disadvantages of independent type

suspension over rigid axle type suspension
• Thank You